Consolidation of European banks is not yet at an end, and Germany's sector with its many small banks will have to change, the co-chief executive of Deutsche Bank told a German newspaper.
"We need pan-European banks. Or else growth countries like China, India, Brazil or Russia will leave us behind," Juergen Fitschen said in an interview published in Boersen-Zeitung on Saturday.
He said consolidation would be unavoidable in Germany. "We have to get away from the idea that it's possible and necessary to have a branch in every small town, especially given the rising use of online services."
Fitschen said Deutsche Bank was mostly in agreement with the proposals of a EU advisory group calling for a separation of banks' riskier activities from their deposit-taking business.
He said, however, the bank did not find proposals worthwhile to separate off market-making once it goes past a certain level and that such a move would impact Deutsche.
On the sale of BHF Bank, which Deutsche has twice failed to get past German regulator BaFin, Fitschen said he was confident a deal to sell the unit to buyout firm RHJ International would go through.
"To the best of my knowledge, BaFin now has the full documentation," he said.
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